(Un)Like Mother, (Un)Like Daughter

Yesterday was a meeting-ful (and therefore meaningful) day, because I had two major meetings. On my first meeting, four officers of a big property development company went to Sta. Rosa City to meet with me to partner with Gymboree Sta. Rosa. After that meeting I rushed (yes, rushed, because I ate lunch in the van na nga!) to Rockwell for another meeting regarding Gymboree’s 40th Anniversary Philippine launch.

When finally I was on my way home relaxed, nakapuslit din akong mag-Facebook. And I loved the news na bumulaga sa Newsfeed ko:

Definitely a proud daughter moment!

I remember the previous day when Motherhood and her loyal staff/my pseudo-sister Jane arrived. They spent time talking about the reason why they were in Los Banos: Motherhood’s research was a Best Paper finalist, and she has just presented. Jane and Motherhood were talking about Motherhood’s chances of winning.

So imagine how happy and proud I am when I learned that Motherhood actually won (based on my rigid definition of winning)!!! When I arrived home, Motherhood wasn’t feeling well and was getting a massage. Therefore it was Jane whom Randy and I interviewed.

LOL. Honestly, I was surprised that what I said had a great impact on her. I thought that Mom being Mom (people who know her know what I mean), deadmadela ‘yung mga pinagsasabi ko. But nooo, malakas pala ang audience impact ko kay Mom.

As I was bathing last night, I realized how very different Mom and I truly are, because she has just told me how much she hated Louisa Clark’s character in Me Before You (she read the book but hasn’t seen the movie)…eh love ko si Louisa!

Mom and I are as different as night and day, that’s why I often feel that my accomplishments aren’t actually accomplishments in her book.

And then Mom has always been academic and usually wapakels sa beauty and arts. Eh natural akong kikay talaga, and not to mention, ma-arts-te. 😛 But I grew up believing that intelligence is the most important trait ever, and that beauty doesn’t even come close. Pa’no ba naman, she would always express vehement dissent everytime someone would tell her to let me join a beauty pageant. As in she would make faces to make it clear that it was more important to be confidently intelligent with a heart, because everytime there were academic seminars or quiz contests where I was chosen to participate, full support always.

One glaring instance of her bias against beauty eklavu was when I was a freshman at a science high school. At a gathering, my kinakapatid (who was a junior at that same science high school) proudly told her: “Ninang, alam mo ba, muse ng PSYSC (Philippine Society for Youth Science Clubs) chapter namin si Dewmaine!” Then Motherhood frowned, and in her disapproving tone, she replied, “Bakit naman Muse?!? Kadami-daming posisyon, Muse pa!” My kinakapatid was dumbfounded—it was a big deal because I was the only freshman to have been elected. But that’s my Mom. 😀

When I went to college and I was already on my own, eto na, na-unleash na ang kikay and arte powers ko!!! I also began to shove aside any quest for academic greatness. And so although I graduated–ON TIME!–from UP, I know I let down Motherhood because I didn’t graduate with Latin honors; I wasn’t Cum laude, or Magna cum laude…I was only a Sanna cum laude. Hahaha!

Convergence

But no matter how different we are, one can’t deny that I am her daughter. For one, namana ko sa kanya ang crazy, masochist hormones ko! Like her, I also become a madwoman with migraines and dysmenorrhea every time our monthly period comes knocking in. And just like her, my first trimester as a pregnant woman was also hell.

Just like her, I’m terrible in dancing and singing, but we both love being stage actresses. 🙂

And last but not the least…

This morning Randy woke me up, because he said I was making sounds and movements in my sleep. That’s because I was so freaking angry in my dream. I dreamt that I caught Randy cheating on me with Sophia Bush who was a Filipino, therefore si Sofia Andres daw talaga ‘yun.

Sophia Bush

Sofia Andres

When he was coming clean and explaining why he had to cheat on me with Sophia Bush/Andres, I was raving mad daw that I was hurling things at him. Whatever I grabbed, I would throw.

What’s the connection of this dream with Mom? The other day, Motherhood was telling me how she made a scene in Fatherhood’s office once upon a time when she learned of Dad’s “alleged” (hehe) womanizing. And she thinks that confronted with the same “alleged” situation, I’ll act similarly. If not worse (Uy Babe, nagbabasa ka pala! Hwehehehe).

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Anyway, congratulations again, Mumps! Even though as a child my dream mom was a vain woman who cooks and decorates like Martha Stewart who speaks with the voice of an angel (in short, your antithesis), I’m happy that I never got any magic lamp with a genie as a child. Because if I did, the world—especially the scientific community—would miss out a lot. Everyone who loves you (and we are a dime a dozen!) is so proud of you!

Same tayo, Sanna Cum Laude din ako sa UP haha! One of my best friends graduated Cum Laude and it’s a running joke in our barkada that when we were in college, she was running for Cum Laude while the rest of us was running for graduating-on-time haha.